Thursday, April 30, 2015

West Gulf Division Special Edition Newsletter from @K5RAV

*******Special Notice from your West Gulf Director********

---HR-1301

The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 -- H.R.1301 -- has been introduced
in the US House of Representatives. The measure would direct the FCC to
extend its rules relating to reasonable accommodation of Amateur
Service communications to private land use restrictions. US Rep Adam
Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced the bill on March 4 with 12 original
co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle -- seven Republicans and five
Democrats.

HR 1301 would require the FCC to amend its Part 97 Amateur Service
rules which apply to the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal
pre-emption policy to include homeowners' association regulations and
deed restrictions, often referred to as "covenants, conditions, and
restrictions" (CC&Rs). At present, PRB-1 only applies to state and
local zoning laws and ordinances. The FCC has been reluctant to extend
the same legal protections to include such private land-use agreements
without direction from Congress.

H.R. 1301 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), chairs that panel's Communications and
Technology Subcommittee, which will consider the measure.

ARRL members are urged to contact their US House members and ask them
to sign on to the bill as a co-sponsor. We recommend sending the
enclosed letter to your member of Congress to:

ARRL
Attn  HR 1301 grassroots campaign
225 Main St
Newington CT 06111

Why does the ARRL request I send my letter to the ARRL instead of
simply mailing it to my Congressperson?-
There are several reasons. First, because of security concerns, it can
take from six to eight weeks for a letter sent directly to a
Congressional office to be delivered. All mail to their office is
delivered to a holding facility to be screened to problems before they
are finally sorted and delivered.

Second, and as important, when the ARRL receives your letter, it can be
combined with other letters to your Congressperson and hand-delivered to
their office on Capitol Hill. This provides an additional opportunity
for our Washington team to have a face-to-face meeting with the key
staff in each Congressional office. A stack of letters delivered at the
same time makes a large impression.

When sending a letter to a member of Congress, please keep in mind a
couple of things:

1)  Please make sure you address the letter to your individual
Representative.  Letters sent simply "Dear Repesentative" cannot be
delivered.

2) Letters on a House Bill sent to a member of the US Senate (or vice
versa) are not useful.  Misaddressed letters, such as calling a member
of the US House "Senator Such-and-such" cannot be delivered.

3) You must sign your letter and include your mailing address.  Letters
that are unsigned or that do not include your address cannot be
delivered.

Verify your Representative by going to this web site.

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Enter your Zip code and Click "Find your Rep by Zip".  Your
Representative and his/her address will be displayed.

Scan your signed/addressed support letter and prepare a .pdf or Word
document.  Mail to:

ARRL
Attn  HR 1301 grassroots campaign
225 Main St
Newington CT 06111

You may E-Mail your signed and addressed letter to:

n1nd@arrl.org

Also, you may FAX your signed and addressed letter to:

860-594-0259

A sample letter may be downloaded from the ARRL web site.

http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301

Scroll down to "Is there a sample letter I can send to my
Congressperson?"  Click on the link a sample letter will be
displayed.  For your convenience a copy is provided below.

***************************************************************************
Date

CONGRESSPERSON NAME
CONGRESSPERSON ADDRESS

Dear Representative _____________:

I am a constituent in your District and I want to bring an issue to
your attention. I am a federally licensed Amateur Radio operator, one
of nearly three-quarters of a million licensees of the Federal
Communications Commission in the United States who provide
communications support for and participate in public service events on
behalf of our communities. During and in the aftermath of disasters and
emergencies, when other forms of communications are unavailable, we
provide communications for first responders and for federal, state and
local governmental agencies and non-governmental agencies, including
the Red Cross and Salvation Army. In addition, we probide
communications to the United States Military through the Military
Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) and to our neighbors when communications
systems are overloaded or fail.

Radio Amateurs contribute to the future of telecommunications as we
participate in the development of innovative technology in this digital
age. Amateur Radio is non-commercial, and we provide our services at no
charge to anyone. However, we cannot do any of these things unless we
can erect an outdoor antenna at our residences.  Recently, a
bi-partisan Bill, H.R. 1301 - "The Amateur Radio Parity Act", was
introduced by Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) with Congressman Joe
Courtney (CT-02) and eleven additional original co-sponsors.  HR 1301
directs the FCC to extend their existing PRB-1 regulations of
"reasonable accommodation" of Amateur Radio communications to
include private land use regulators. This would afford us the ability
to negotiate with homeowner's associations in residential
developments. Currently, private land use regulations routinely include
restrictions that completely prevent Amateur Radio communications
operators from installing any type of outdoor antenna system. The
"reasonable accommodation" policy has for 30 years applied to
municipal zoning ordinances. This Bill would extend the policy to
operators living under private land use restrictions. The FCC has asked
Congress for guidance in this area and this Bill provides it.

As your constituent, I am asking that you support the bill by
signing-on as a cosponsor of HR1301. Please contact Rep. Kinzinger's
office to do so. If you have any questions, please contact ARRL, the
national association for Amateur Radio, attention Dan Henderson, at
860.594.0236. Thank you.


Sincerely,



LICENSEE NAME & CALL
LICENSEE ADDRESS

***************************************************************************

If you live in a HOA, this legislation is extremely important to you.
If you don't live in a HOA, please support those who do and send your
signed letter today!

Letters from constituents impress elected officials.  After all, you
vote them into or out of office.  Your signed and addressed letter will
markedly increase the likilihood of passage of HR 1301.

Thank you for taking your time to support HR1301.  The future of
amateur radio may rely on this legislation.

David Woolweaver, K5RAV

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL West Gulf Division
Director: David A Woolweaver, K5RAV
k5rav@arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------

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--


Lloyd Colston   director
Altus Emergency Management
Altus, OK      http://www.cityofaltus.org
Phone:  580.481.2260
Fax:  580.482.4738

It is better to be informed than it is to be afraid.

http://twitter.com/altusready
http://altusem.blogspot.com
calendly.com/kc5fm

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

How about Automatic Packet Reporting System in Oklahoma?

The second statewide APRS net of the year will be held Saturday, May 9th at 1 PM.  APRS is the Automatic Packet Reporting System and has been a key digital communication medium for amateur radio during the past two decades.  This exercise will give amateur radio operators in Oklahoma a chance to use the short messaging capabilities of the system.  The Tulsa Digital Radio Club (TDRC) is sponsoring the event.


For this net, radio amateurs will be requested to send the following “report” to the net control station, AE5ME-10 via an APRS message:


APRS software/TNC/Radio/Antenna


For example, AE5ME-10’s message would be, “Soundcard/TS-2000/Dual-band vertical”


Net control will also accept messages sent to the ANSRVR system.  Send an APRS message to “ANSRVR” with the following content:


CQ OKAPRS APRS software/TNC/Radio/Antenna


To watch other stations’ traffic during the net, you would send a message to ANSRVR with a “J OKAPRS”.   If you would like to learn more about how ANSRVR system works, please read the APRS messaging primer by the TDRC at


https://www.dropbox.com/s/rgvw6bokclb4ttj/APRS%20Messaging%20TDRC%20Training.pdf?dl=0.


“The short messaging capabilities of APRS are very similar to the text messaging capabilities you have on your cell phone.   However, APRS also has GPS tracking capabilities and an infrastructure that would continue to operate even when the cell phone network is overwhelmed during a regional disaster such as tornadoes or flooding. “ said Jeff Scoville, president of the Tulsa Digital Radio Club.


For more information you can go to the club web page at tulsadigitalradioclub.blogspot.com. or facebook page on www.facebook.com/kt5dig.  General information about the amateur radio hobby is available at www.arrl.org.

Thanks to Jeff, AE5ME for this information.


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Do you have what it takes to be a Technical Specialist?

Technical Specialist: "Responsibilities:

Serve as a technical advisor to local hams and clubs. Correspond by telephone and letter on tech topics. Refer correspondents to other sources if specific topic is outside TS's knowledge.

Serve as advisor in radio frequency interference issues. RFI can drive a wedge in neighbor and city relations. It will be the TS with a cool head who will resolve problems. Local hams will come to you for guidance in dealing with interference problems.

Speak at local clubs on popular tech topics. Let local clubs know you're available and willing.
Represent ARRL at technical symposiums in industry; serve on CATV advisory committees; advise municipal governments on technical matters.

Work with other ARRL officials and appointees when called upon for technical advice, especially in emergency communications situations where technical prowess can mean the difference in getting a communications system up and running, the difference between life and death.

Handle other miscellaneous technically-related tasks assigned by the Technical Coordinator."



Thursday, April 9, 2015

Have you heard about N5M? #ARRL #hamradio

The amateur radio community is preparing for its' support for the 2015
Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.  This year is special as it is the 15th
anniversary of the Marathon and the 20th anniversary of the Murrah Federal
Building bombing.

To commemorate this special year, we are adding a special event station/s
leading up to the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon with the call sign N5M.
The special event stations will be in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area
and begin operating on 19 April at 0000Z and end operations on 26 April
(race day) at 1800Z (1 PM local when the Marathon is officially over).

On race day, we will have a special event station on the race course located
at the Britton Med medical station at Mile Marker 13.  You are also invited
to assist in operating that station on race day.

The format of operations will be similar to Route 66 On The Air, i.e.
register as a special event station and sign up for specific operating
dates, times, band and modes.  You may operate, using the call sign N5M,
from home, your mobile, or other locations in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan
area.

If you wish to volunteer to operate as a Marathon Special Event station,
contact one of the following Marathon Special Event site administrators to
get registered to have access to the scheduling page:

Tom WA9AFM/5  wa9afm@arrl.net
Dave NE5S  ddgold@cox.net
Steve NE5SD  sduskin@gmail.com
Bill AD5BU  ad5bu@arrl.net

They will need the following info to grant you access:  Name, Call Sign,
Email Address, Phone Number

The special event site administrator will send your username (usually your
call sign), a case sensitive password and the link to the Marathon Special
Event scheduling page.

Please Note: you don't have to be a Marathon volunteer to be a special event
station.

Thanks to Tom, WA9AFM for this report.


Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Oklahoma Section Automatic Packet Reporting System Network April 11 event #ARRL #hamradio

WHO
The Tulsa Digital Radio Club (KT5DIG) will sponsor 2015’s first OK Statewide APRS net at 1300 CDT on Saturday, April 11, 2015.  The frequency will be the nationwide APRS calling frequency, 144.390.MHz  The lead net controller will be Scott Haley KD5NJR, operating the station KD5NJR-6 from the greater Tulsa area.  During the net, he will use a variety of paths in an attempt to eventually achieve statewide coverage over the course of the net. 

WHAT
This is an opportunity to exercise your APRS station by sending and receiving APRS messages as well as the more common position reports.  Oklahoma hams are encouraged to monitor the net activity and provide reception reports of stations heard on 144.390 to Scott atkd5njr@gmail.com

Scott will monitor the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club linked system and the DMR State-wide talk group during the net.
WHEN
The net will start at 1pm Central Daylight Time.
It will last for about 1 hour depending on the number of checkins.

WHY
APRS is a convenient mode for the exchange of short messages and position reports.  In particular it is used by the storm spotting community and the NWS.  The APRS mode is also used on HF and via satellites.  Balloons and other experiments use the format too.  It’s an interesting skill to have in your amateur radio toolbox.

HOW
You can participate in the net in a variety of methods
1)      Those with APRS trackers can activate them and confirm with net control via voice.
2)      Those with the APRS-enabled HTs (Kenwood Th-d7, d72, Yaesu VX-8, etc) can formulate a  brief message to kd5njr-6
3)      Home stations may participate too.

A typical home station would consist of a radio ,  computer and either a TNC or rig interface with software modem.  Popular APRS software include UI-VIEW32 and APRSIS-32.  Many Linux users use XASTIR.
Those without a TNC may look into the UZ7HO or Direwolf software modems.  AGWPE is also a popular software modem.  They use the computer’s soundcard to carry out some of the TNC functions.

Hams may also refer to the KT5DIG website : tulsadigitalradioclub.blogspot.com or find us on Facebook.  www.facebook.com/kt5dig

G4ILO has good APRSIS32 primers.

Good luck and see you on the air.

73

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

ARES members encouraged #ARRL #hamradio

Is your contact information UP-TO-DATE on the www.ARESOK.org website? If NOT, please review the following:

1. Go to www.ARESOK.org and log in.

2. Once logged in scroll down near the bottom of the Main Menu page to Account Maintenance Links .

3. Click on Edit your contact information .

4. Make the needed change in the fields provided. 

NOTE: PRIMARY PHONE is the phone number that will reach you most often, as-well-as the PRIMARY e-mail should be the e-mail you check most often (ARES-OK leaders this should be the e-mail you check DAILYor forwards to your smartphone).

5. Click Update or Update and send to ARRL (ARRL members should click Update and send to ARRL ). 

Problems logging in or questions about updating your contact info? Please contact our webmaster Roland Stolfa KC5UNL for any further assistance.

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